 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (December 2013) |
&sq=&lang=&file=File:Schooner_%27Thomas_W._Lawson%27_1902-1907a.jpg) Thomas W. Lawson on her maiden voyage in 1902
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Thomas W. Lawson |
| Namesake | Thomas W. Lawson |
| Owner | Thomas W. Lawson |
| Route |
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| Ordered | June 25, 1901 |
| Builder |
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| Cost | $248,000 construction, total costs with oil cargo in 1907: ~$400,000 |
| Yard number | 110 |
| Laid down | November, 1901 |
| Launched | July 10, 1902 |
| Christened | July 10, 1902 |
| Completed | August 1902 |
| Maiden voyage | September 1902 via Philadelphia to Newport News, VA |
| Reinstated | 1906 as a tanker for oil in bulk |
| Homeport | Boston, MA |
| Fate | Sunk in a storm within the Isles of Scilly on Saturday, December 14, 1907, after 2 a.m. with the loss of 17 men out of 19 including pilot |
| Badge | none; no figurehead |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type |
|
| Tonnage | 5,218 GRT / 4,914 NRT |
| Displacement | 13,860 ts (at 11,000 ts load); 10,260 ts (at 7,400 ts load) |
| Length |
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| Beam | 50 ft (15 m) |
| Height | |
| Draft |
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| Depth | 36.5 ft (11.1 m) (depth moulded) |
| Depth of hold | 32 ft (9.8 m) |
| Decks | 2 continuous steel decks, poop and forecastle decks |
| Installed power | no auxiliary propulsion; donkey engine for sail winches, steam rudder, generator |
| Propulsion | wind |
| Sail plan | 25 sails: 7 gaff main sails (No. 1 to 6 of equal size, spanker sail of larger size), 7 gaff topsails, 6 staysails, 5 foresails with 43.000 sq ft (4,000 m²) [46,617 sq ft (4,330.86 m²)] sail area |
| Speed | 16 knots (29.632 km/h) |
| Boats & landing craft carried | three lifeboats and captain's gig (stern) |
| Complement | 1902: 16: 1907: 18 |
| Crew | 1902: 16; 1907: 18 (captain, engineer, 2 stewards, two helmsmen (1st & 2nd mates), 10 to 12 able seamen) |
Thomas W. Lawson was a seven-masted, steel-hulled schooner built for the Pacific trade, but used primarily to haul coal and oil along the East Coast of the United States. Named for copper baron Thomas W. Lawson, a Boston millionaire, stock-broker, book author, and president of the Boston Bay State Gas Co., she was launched in 1902 as the largest schooner and largest sailing vessel without an auxiliary engine ever built.
Thomas W. Lawson was destroyed off the uninhabited island of Annet, in the Isles of Scilly, in a storm on December 14, 1907, killing all but two of her eighteen crew and a harbor pilot already aboard. Her cargo of 58,000 barrels of light paraffin oil caused perhaps the first large marine oil spill.